Nicolo Zaniolo

Roma have had a difficult season so far. The club sit 7th in Serie A at the time of writing. One of the few bright spots has been the young Italian Nicolo Zaniolo. Zaniolo joined Roma from Inter in the summer as part of the deal which took Radja Nainggolan to Inter. Zaniolo was thrown in at the Bernabeu in September for his debut and has impressed in recent months when given a run in the team. This tactical analysis will profile the young attacking midfielders.

Nicolo Zaniolos style of play at Roma

Zaniolo is an attacking midfielder who has been used in a few different positions by Eusebio Di Francesco. Aside from being played as a number ten, Zaniolo has also played as a single striker and as a central midfielder.

Creative passer

As youd expect from an Italian attacking midfielder, Zaniolo has very good technique and is a great passer. Zaniolo has a really good left foot and looks to influence the game with creative passing. His vision is superb which helps him spot the right runs made by teammates around him.

The below image highlights an example of this vision and passing ability. Zaniolo has possession on the left side of Romas attack. He spots the run of Cengiz Ünder in the penalty area and makes a perfect pass around Sergio Ramos. The Turkish winger, unfortunately, fires over the crossbar and denies Zaniolo a splendid assist.

Zaniolo is also very adept at playing threatening passes while running at speed. The below image is from a game with Italys U19s. Zaniolo moves forward with the ball and plays a pass in-behind for his teammate who scores. With his left foot, Zaniolo is particularly dangerous from the right-sided half-space where he can slip through through-balls to strikers running at pace.

In the away game at Juvent